Did Amy Joan Schneider really ever have a chance for a fair proceeding in Macon County Illinois?

By Nell Kinzer-Smith

I was continuing my research into the Amy Joan Schneider story and how things all got started in the case. I ran across the Melissa Robinson court case against Macon County Decatur Illinois Probate Judge Warren A. Sappington. Sappington was the same Judge who, Schneider says, took her children and gave them to her mother and sister. Melissa Robinson, a Decatur Illinois woman, worked as a clerk in Judge Sappington’s Judicial Office in the Macon County Courthouse. According to Robinson’s court complaint Link, on at least two occasions Judge Sappington asked Robinson, his employee at the time, to “sit on his face.”

I have found several common threads in the Schneider and Robinson cases. First, both cases were occurring at in the same place and around the same time, 1995-96. The same Decatur Illinois Judge who took Amy Joan’s children, Judge Sappington, was also busy making Melissa Robinson’s work day life a living nightmare.

Court records show that Sappington ran this poor woman from her job although she complained to Sappington’s supervisors and tried to get away from Sappington. Link In fact, documents say it was Chief Judge John Greanias who told Robinson it would be in her best interest if she resigned her job.

Second, ironically, just like Schneider, Robinson eventually brought a suit in Federal Court. Robinson v. Sappington, No. 02-3316. Link And like Schneider, the federal Magistrate ruled in favor of the defendant Judges. Robinson appealed her case to The United States Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. That court remanded Robinson’s case back to the Urbana Federal District Court for trial. Schneider’s appeal is pending.

Third, records say Macon County Illinois Chief Judge John Greanias and Illinois Sixth Circuit Chief Judge John Shonkwiler were directly involved in protecting Sappington and his sexual deeds against Robinson. Both judges were part of Robinson’s federal complaint. All three of these same judges are involved in the Schneider case. Greanias allowed Schneider’s civil court opponents to file criminal charges against her although Schneider has never had a hearing as required by law. Link
Shonkwiler has protected and allowed Webber to sit on Schneider’s case as judge although Webber is a defendant in Schneider’s Federal case.

And finally, “Sit on My Face” Sappington, was the main architect in both the alleged child selling case involving Amy Joan Schneider’s two children, and Melissa Robinson’s seemingly hellish sexual harassment ordeal causing her to eventually leave her job.

Has Republican Supreme Court Justice Rita Garman surreptitiously protected Federal Defendant Albert Webber, her political appointee in breaking the law, and covering it up? Link Could it be that Judge Albert (A.G.) Webber is continuing a tradition of corruption, retribution, and favoritism with the familiar help and protection of Rita Garman, John Greanias and John Shonkwiler? Stay tuned.